Studies of complex formation between the bromophenol blue and some important aminoquinoline antimalarials

A simple and rapid colorimetric method for the assay of amodiaquine hydrochloride, chloroquine phosphate and primaquine phosphate is described. The method is based on the interaction of the drug base with bromophenol blue to give a stable ion-pair complex. The spectra of the complex shows a maxima at 415-420 nm with high apparent molar absorptivities. Beer's law was obeyed in the concentration range 1-8, 2-10 and 2-12 micrograms.ml-1 for amodiaquine hydrochloride, primaquine phosphate and chloroquine phosphate respectively. The proposed method was applied to the determination of these drugs in certain formulations and the results were favourably comparable to the official methods.